In some ways worship is like prayer—a bit elusive, hard to define concisely or assign a structure to, and yet something you can’t help but recognize and participate in when it flows from genuine passion. One thing is certain: true worship always focuses on who God is.
What are other signs of true worship? How is it cultivated? What stifles or destroys it? What kind of music fuels it? How can pastors and music leaders provide the best possible environment for people to worship unashamedly and without distraction? And how do modern technology and changing music styles affect worship in the church?
We hope these resources will help clarify the essential elements of true worship. When you engage in this vital communication with God, you’ll be surprised how quickly your worries and negative thoughts evaporate!
For millennia, average Christians as well as learned theologians have strained more than one brain cell to try to understand the incomprehensible mystery surrounding the conception and birth of our Saviour. We'll not lose ourselves in the unsolvable riddle that is the conception of God the Son. Rather, we'll lose ourselves in the wonder that is God the Holy Spirit's most significant mission.
All of us who follow Christ have sensed God's working, even if we couldn't put our finger on exactly what He was doing. But how do we recognize it? This spiritual sense comes from the Holy Spirit who indwells every believer and who gives believers inner promptings to participate in God's activities in their lives.
The Christian life is like a car. One needs at least two important things to drive it: a key and fuel. When an individual comes to faith in Christ, he or she is given the key—salvation. But the car of the Christian life doesn't get very far without fuel—the divine enablement of the Holy Spirit, what the Bible calls being “filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18)
Of the three persons in the godhead, including God the Father and God the Son, God the Holy Spirit is the least understood and the most mystifying. Let's dispel some of the myths and mystery by getting reacquainted with the Spirit of Power.
The Apostle Paul warned us to turn our attention to what really matters—the cross of Christ—even if the world thinks it foolish and weak. Because through the cross, God blesses.
Those who are meek and mild possess a character too wimpy for the times, so we think. We love lions, not lambs. But Jesus demonstrates that meekness isn't weakness—it is incredible strength.
What the world shuns as foolishness, the Lord embraces as wisdom—the wisdom of pain to turn mere followers of Christ into disciples of Christ. Jesus called it “the cup.” To Him the cup was the anguish, humiliation, and torturous death on the cross. To us it means “taking up our cross” and following Him daily.
The Bible makes it clear that Jesus came to earth to seek and to save those who are lost in their sin (Luke 19:10). But why did Jesus do this?
Some Bible words have been handled and mishandled for so long they've become shopworn and of very little interest to anyone. Not so with the word grace; it still retains its lustre and mystery.
The popular notion of God, as if He were a benign, aging grandfather, sitting passively in heaven—affable, lenient, permissive, and devoid of any real displeasure over sin because He loves us—cheapens God's love. It doesn't uphold the value of His love. In truth, looking into God's heart to discover His love is to discover His other attributes as well.
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Insight for Living is committed to excellence in communicating the truths of Scripture and the Person of Jesus Christ in an accurate, clear, and practical manner so that people will come to an understanding of God’s plan for their lives, as well as their significant role as authentic Christians in a needy, hostile, and desperate world.
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